Beef Retail Marketing Program Builds on Success

Denver, CO (August 31, 2001) - Building on the success of its “Beef Made Easy”™ program, the cattle industry is using consumer market research to further increase the convenience of shopping for beef.

The “Convenience Continuity Program,” funded by the beef checkoff, fine-tunes an existing consumer marketing program using the latest research to zero in on target areas and introducing strategies that can be readily adopted by retailers, according to Janet Helm, chairman of the industry’s Joint Retail Committee and a cow-calf producer from Van Horn, Texas. “This may be the most concentrated retail program ever using checkoff dollars by combining brand partnerships, public relations, advertising and retail marketing, and by concentrating on a more limited number of markets.“

The campaign is a continuation of an aggressive business plan put in place by the industry in 1998 to deliver more convenient beef products, educate consumers about the key nutrients found in beef, and ensure the safety of U.S. beef. The “Beef Made Easy”™ program was designed to make shopping for beef easier by grouping fresh beef by cooking methods and providing on-pack cooking instructions. Color-coded merchandising tools and consumer brochures give the meat case a consumer-friendly feel which the industry hopes will boost beef demand.

The “Convenience Continuity Program” takes this effort one step further. It is geared toward establishing a more prominent and permanent location in the store for convenient beef products and bringing consumers’ attention to them in a new way. The three legs of this stool are advertising (to create awareness of the products), public relations (to attract consumers to the store) and retail point-of-sale materials (to draw shoppers to the meat case).

Research Helps Focus in on Targeted Markets

“Consumer market research is helping the industry to define and focus on what was once a broad target audience of women ages 25 to 54 who have children,” Helm said. “We are now focusing on three segments of the market that research indicates are strong potential users of convenient beef products.”

Market demographics were used in combination with the research to identify three metropolitan areas that skewed high in each of the three targeted market segments. The markets include Chicago (families with children), Dallas (young/small households), and Charlotte (empty nesters). An extensive marketing plan has been developed for each of the three markets and includes new radio creative that is specific to the targeted segment audience.

Nine additional markets have been targeted for a more scaled back marketing effort that will involve in-store activity only.

Studies have shown that consumer demand is affected by shopping convenience. While 68 percent of consumers are aware of convenient beef products, only 35 percent know where to locate these products in the store. Such studies allow the beef industry to use a more focused approach to increase the convenience of shopping for beef.

“We are finding out what works in building beef demand, and using market research to further hone our efforts,” said Helm. “We are also taking a program that was highly successful at the national level and working with state beef councils to get participation from even more stores.”

Getting in Tune with Consumers

A variety of public relations strategies will be utilized for the program, including using advertisements and spokespersons that will appeal to the audiences in each targeted market, and offering special assistance to retailers in drawing attention to the meat case.

The unique relationship the NCBA enjoys with grocery retailers will be key to those retailers participating in the program, said NCBA President Lynn Cornwell, a beef producer from Glasgow, Montana. “We have worked over the past four years to develop strong relationships with key retailers, and it is generally known among them that NCBA wants to serve as a catalyst for change in the ever-evolving market place,” Cornwell said. “They look to NCBA as a valuable source of information about the beef industry and how it relates to their operations.”

The Convenience Continuity Program was reviewed and recommended by the Joint Retail Committee in early August at the 2001 Cattle Industry Summer Conference in Denver. The beef checkoff committee’s focus is to stimulate short-term beef sales through promotion and merchandising programs, build long-term change, and to develop and implement retail beef operations systems for pricing and labeling.

The retail program is part of an integrated effort to bring the industry more in tune with consumers. Since checkoff resources began targeting new product development, for instance, more than 300 convenient new beef products have been launched by the industry, and beef demand has increased 10 out of the past 12 economic quarters. By continuing its convenience programs, the industry hopes to further build on this momentum, Helm said.

“The combined efforts of the retail marketing team within NCBA will bring us success,” she said. “The beef industry is putting all the pieces together to increase the demand for beef, and it’s leading to some very exciting results.”

Retail promotion programs are administered by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, which contracts with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). The 110-member Beef Board is appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture to oversee the collection of the $1-per-head beef checkoff, certify state beef councils, implement the federal order establishing the checkoff, and evaluate the effectiveness of checkoff programs.

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Producer-directed and consumer-focused, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association is the trade association of America’s cattle farmers and ranchers, and the marketing organization for the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry.